Re: HYB: freezing pollen question
iris@hort.net
  • Subject: Re: HYB: freezing pollen question
  • From: B* C* <b*@ymail.com>
  • Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 21:16:57 -0700 (PDT)
I have great success freezing pollen and have several takes from pollen that has been frozen for two years, and I will try three year old pollen this next year.

Contrary to what many people say, I feel over drying is a problem.  I take fresh anthers with nice fluffy pollen and place them into small glassine envelopes and place them directly into the freezer in a sealed container (think small Tupperware box).  I think it is best if the freezer is NOT frost-free.  I only place 6 to 9 anthers in an envelope so that the number of times the pollen is taken out and returned to to freezer is minimized.

Glassine envelopes will adsorb some moisture if there should there be any excess.  The other nice thing about these envelopes is that you can recover loose pollen from the envelope with forceps.  If you what to try some, I would be glad to and you a few if you request off-list.  I buy them in bulk from a company called Bio-quip, but shipping small quants is expensive.  They also have great forceps in their catalog.

Please let me know if you have questions or need anything else.

Bill

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